List of asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2022

Asteroids which came closer to Earth than the Moon in 2022 by time of discovery

After closest approach: 80 (55.9%)   < 24 hours before: 26 (18.2%)   up to 7 days before: 36 (25.2%)   > one week before: 1 (0.7%)   > 7 weeks before: 0 (0.0%)   > one year before: 0 (0.0%) Other years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Asteroids which came closer to Earth than the Moon in 2022 by discoverer

G96 Mt. Lemmon Survey: 47 (32.9%)   703 Catalina Sky Survey: 21 (14.7%)   P07 SST, HEH Station: 17 (11.9%)   F52 Pan-STARRS 2, Haleakala: 16 (11.2%)   T08 ATLAS-MLO, Mauna Loa: 9 (6.3%)   K88 GINOP-KHK, Piszkesteto: 7 (4.9%)   F51 Pan-STARRS 1, Haleakala: 6 (4.2%)   T05 ATLAS-HKO, Haleakala: 6 (4.2%)   381 Tokyo-Kiso: 5 (3.5%)   V00 Kitt Peak-Bok: 2 (1.4%)   W94 MAP, San Pedro de Atacama: 2 (1.4%)   I41 ZTF, Palomar Mountain: 1 (0.7%)   M22 ATLAS South Africa, Sutherland: 1 (0.7%)   K19 PASTIS Observatory, Banon: 1 (0.7%)   W68 ATLAS Chile, Rio Hurtado: 1 (0.7%)   Y00 SONEAR Observatory, Oliveira: 1 (0.7%)

Below is the list of asteroids that have come close to Earth in 2022.

A list of known near-Earth asteroid close approaches less than 1 lunar distance (0.0025696 AU (384,410 km; 238,860 mi)) from Earth in 2022, based on the close approach database of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).^[1] During 2022 143 asteroids passed within 1 LD of Earth. As most asteroids passing within a lunar distance are less than 40 meters in diameter, they generally are not detected until they are within several million km of Earth.

For reference, the radius of Earth is about 0.0000426 AU (6,370 km; 3,960 mi) or 0.0166 lunar distances. Geosynchronous satellites have an orbit with semi-major axis length of 0.000282 AU (42,200 km; 26,200 mi) or 0.110 lunar distances.

The first asteroid flyby within 1 LD of Earth in 2022 was asteroid 2021 YK (10–20 meters in diameter), which was observed on 27 December 2021 04:40 UT (when it was about 3.8 million km from Earth) and passed 0.49 LD (190 thousand km) from Earth on 2 January 2022. The largest asteroid to pass within 1 LD of Earth in 2022 was 2022 TM₂ with an estimated diameter between 24 and 53 meters for an absolute magnitude of 25.2.^[2] The fastest asteroid to pass within 1 LD of Earth in 2022 was 2022 YW₆ that passed Earth with a velocity with respect to Earth of 29.8 km/s (67,000 mph).^{[3][note 1]}

The CNEOS database of close approaches lists some close approaches a full orbit or more before the discovery of the object, derived by orbit calculation. The list below only includes close approaches that are evidenced by observations, thus the pre-discovery close approaches would only be included if the object was found by precovery, but there was no such close approach in 2022.

This list and relevant databases do not consider impacts as close approaches, thus this list does not include 2022 EB5 and 2022 WJ1, two asteroids which were predicted to impact on Earth and burned up in its atmosphere, as well as several more objects that collided with Earth's atmosphere in 2023 which weren't discovered in advance, but were observed visually or recorded by infrasound sensors designed to detect detonation of nuclear devices.^[4]

     Rows highlighted red indicate objects which were not discovered until after closest approach

     Rows highlighted yellow indicate objects discovered less than 24 hours before closest approach

     Rows highlighted green indicate objects discovered more than one week before closest approach

     Rows highlighted turquoise indicate objects discovered more than 7 weeks before closest approach

     Rows highlighted blue indicate objects discovered more than one year before closest approach
(i.e. objects successfully cataloged on a previous orbit, rather than being detected during final approach)

This sub-section visualises the warning times of the close approaches listed in the above table, depending on the size of the asteroid. It shows the effectiveness of asteroid warning systems at detecting close approaches. The sizes of the charts show the relative sizes of the asteroids to scale. For comparison, the approximate size of a person is also shown. This is based the absolute magnitude of each asteroid, an approximate measure of size based on brightness.^[1]

Absolute magnitude H ≥ 30 (smallest)

(size of a person for comparison)

Absolute magnitude 30 > H ≥ 29

Absolute magnitude 29 > H ≥ 28

Absolute magnitude 28 > H ≥ 27

Absolute magnitude 27 > H ≥ 26 (probable size of the Chelyabinsk meteor)

Absolute magnitude 26 > H ≥ 25

•   After closest approach: 0 (0.0%)
•   < 24 hours before: 0 (0.0%)
•   up to 7 days before: 2 (100.0%)
•   > one week before: 0 (0.0%)
•   > 7 weeks before: 0 (0.0%)
•   > one year before: 0 (0.0%)

Absolute magnitude less than 25 > H (largest)

None

Prediction accuracy for asteroids of magnitude 27 or larger nominally predicted to pass within 1 lunar distance of Earth in 2022[note 5]

Unpredicted: 13 (86.7%)   Predicted but not observed: 1 (6.7%)   Observed but details incorrect: 0 (0.0%)   Distance correct but not date: 0 (0.0%)   Date correct but not distance: 0 (0.0%)   Successfully predicted: 1 (6.7%)   Not due till later in the year: 0 (0.0%)

Below is the list of predicted close approaches of near-Earth asteroids larger than magnitude 27, that were predicted at the start of the year to occur in 2022.^{[note 5]} This relates to the effectiveness of asteroid cataloging systems at predicting close approaches. A predicted close approach distance of within ±50% is considered to be a successful prediction.^{[note 6]}

For asteroids which were observed but not predicted, see the main list above.

  Rows highlighted orange indicate objects which were predicted theoretically but were not observed in practice

  Rows highlighted yellow indicate objects which were predicted and observed but the predicted close approach date and distance were incorrect

  Rows highlighted green indicate objects which were observed with the predicted close approach distance (within ±50%) but wrong date

  Rows highlighted turquoise indicate objects which were observed with the predicted close approach date but wrong distance (out by over 50%)

  Rows highlighted blue indicate objects which were observed as predicted with the correct close approach date and distance

  Rows in grey indicate predicted objects that are not yet due

Below is an example list of near-Earth asteroids that passed or nominally will pass more than 1 lunar distance (384,400 km or 0.00256 AU) from Earth in 2022. During 2021 over 1000 asteroids passed within 10 LD (3.8 million km) of Earth.

  Rows highlighted yellow indicate short arc objects that have not been observed for years and therefore the uncertainty in the approach distance and date are large

  Rows highlighted red indicate objects which are risk–listed with a virtual impactor near this date

• List of asteroid close approaches to Earth
• List of asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2021
• List of asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2023
• Asteroid impact prediction